The Last Eight Weeks

Hello! It's been a while. Last time I checked in I had just DNF'd my first race and was dealing with piriformis syndrome. Sadly, eight weeks later, I am still dealing with it. No running. No sitting. You get the idea.

2013 has been a rough year, at least on the running end of things. I've been injured or slowly recovering from injury more months than not in the past 365 days. The last truly good race I ran was the Baltimore Marathon last October. It's pretty much been downhill since then and believe me, it has left me questioning what I think my body is actually capable of vs. what my mind wants it to be capable of.

In any event, at least each injury gets easier to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely bitter everytime I see someone running and I have avoided reading other running blogs at all costs. Frankly, I don't want to hear about someone else's awesome marathon recap while I'm benched for the best running weather season of the year. Still, aside from one or two days during the last eight weeks, I've been okay with not running. Or at least, I've accepted it.

Luckily, this fall has been absolutely insane between work and school and life and while I would love to be running right now, at least I'm keeping busy. Here's what I've been up to the past eight weeks:

Physical Therapy
As soon as I DNF'd that race, I called the doctor and set up some PT appointments. PT has always worked for me in the past and I felt confident we could nip this thing in the bud right away. Unfortunately, PT has not really helped at all this time around, which has been very disappointing. They even tried a fancy treatment called Iontophoresis that involves driving anti-inflammatory into my butt with an electric field. I felt a little improvement six treatments later, but as soon as I tried sitting again the pain would come right back.

Standing (Lots and lots of standing)
The week after I DNF'd it was pretty clear that sitting only aggrevated my symptoms and caused a tremendous amount of nerve inflammation. At first, I tried sitting straighter and getting up frequently, but it was quickly apparent that any sitting, no matter how good my posture, was causing more pain. The problem here is that I work in an office at a desk that I need to be at for most of the day. But, where there's a will, there's a way. Solution - standing desk.

Unfortunately standing desks can cost $$$ and I wasn't about to ask my office to shell out for one. Luckily though, we live in the age of the internet and there are thousands of super crafty people out there. It didn't take long for me to find a quick, cheap standing desk hack. One trip to Ikea later and viola! Standing desk for $22.

My set up at work

The first week standing was hard and my feet were killing me (even though I was spending 50 miles per week on my feet running previous to this). Now, seven weeks later I am feeling just fine. My husband and I also bought a standing desk for home. All said and done, I have done little to no sitting the past two months and if I'm on the couch, I'm laying down horizontally. Even after this injury is over I will probably continue to stand since its better for you anyway. At this point though, I would just love to be able to sit in the car or go to the movies without feeling pain.

Graduate School
Coincidentally the semster started the week I had my injury. I have about 5.5 weeks left of my graduate program and have been working every weekend all semester to finish my thesis. I did this program in 2.5 years straight by taking summer classes. I'm literally counting down the days until December 10th when I will be DONE!

Work
My work coincides with the school year, so September and October are always slammed. Even if I was able to run, I wouldn't have time for lunch runs anyway, which had made the whole not-running thing a little easier to deal with.

Cleansing
I have always wanted to try a cleanse, but with all of the running I was doing, it was impractical to take in so few calories while I was burning so many off. I've done four cleanses over the past two months - an intense 3-day cleanse and three 1-day cleanses every couple of weeks. I don't know that I will be doing the 3-day cleanses that often since I feel like I can't work out at all during them, but the one-day cleanses are really nice and don't throw off your entire week.

I thought I would HATE the beet juice the most, but ironically it is my favorite and I could drink it every day

For those of you who are curious, I have tried three different cleanse companies so far - BluePrint, Suja, and a local Philadelphia juicer called Sip-N-Glo. If I get my act together I might just do a little omparative review.

Finding Other Ways to Workout
The really horrible thing about this injury, aside from the whole no running/no sitting thing, is that I can't bike or swim either. The nerves in my hamstring and butt become too irritated. This has been incredibly frustrating because I haven't really been able to do any cardio. I've resorted to a lot of strength training and try to fit in about 30 minutes a day, but 30 minutes of strength just doesn't compare to the amount of cardio I was getting in.

Finally a few weeks ago my husband and I bought our own heavy bag. We've been going to boxing class on and off for about three years and I've been wanting to set up a home gym for a while. Between all of the PT equipment I've invested in during my injuries and the foam rollers and hand weights I've bought over the years, turns out we have a pretty nice set up. The heavy bag has been great for getting some cardio in and of course, to take out my frustrations about not running :)

So that's pretty much been life for the last eight weeks. I am trying out ART therapy today after work and I'm optimistic about more positive results than traditional PT. I'll keep you guys posted!

Piriformis Syndrome: A Literal Pain in the Butt

First of all, thank you for the kind, supportive comments on my last post. Dropping from a race is never fun and certainly not something any of us set out to do. But, shit happens. I am 100% positive it was the right move and once I accepted that, I got over feeling sorry for myself pretty quickly.

On the car ride home from the race I was already furiously Googling to find out what my issue might be. After typing in my symptoms it didn't take long for me to land on Piriformis Syndrome, which the doctor confirmed for me this morning. The Piriformis muscle runs horizontally across the butt and the sciatic nerve can pass in front of it, behind it, or even through the muscle in about 10% of people.

Source

When the Piriformis muscle gets inflamed it can press on the sciatic nerve, which can cause pain to shoot down the back of the leg. All of this would explain the knot I felt in my butt during the race and the spiraling tightness moving from just below my butt down my hamstring. Piriformis Syndrome also explains why I was in so much pain just from driving in the car. While it can definitely be a running injury, Piriformis Syndrome can also be brought about by extended bouts of sitting (aka what I do every day at work and most of the weekends when I'm not running).

I still have no idea why the muscle got inflamed when it did. I didn't have a traumatic injury prior to Labor Day weekend when it started hurting nor did I tweak anything while running. The good thing is that I started stretching it as soon as I got home on Sunday, following some of the treatment exercises recommended online. Self-diagnosis is definitely something to be careful with, but in this case I just kept doing what felt good:

• Pigeon Pose has been great at relieving some of the tightness
• A great video about neural flossing for Piriformis Syndrome can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFtUgS69rPk&feature=fvw
• In addition, I bought this from Trigger Point. I have their foam roller and love it. Like the foam roller, this massage ball is no joke. I have been rolling it between the wall and my butt and it has relieved a lot of the tension.
• I've also been doing many of these exercises (below)

  

  The Figure-4 Gluteal Stretch  and Standing Hamstring Stretch have been especially effective
  Source

After two full days off, I ran four very slow miles on the treadmill on Wednesday. They felt good and I did ample stretching before and after. On Monday I will start PT again for what seems like the millionth time. But, I'm more than happy to go back if they can teach me a few new things and help make sure that I really kick this thing to the curb for good.

The most annoying thing about Piriformis Syndrome has just been that sitting makes me feel very nervous. This is sort of a problem since my job requires me to sit at a desk all day. I've tried to make sure I'm sitting straight with my feet flat on the floor, but all I really want to do is this:

Source



Source

Injuries totally suck, but thankfully I caught this one early. Also, if I'm going to have an injury, at least a butt injury is pretty funny. :)

D to the N to the F

I'm not even sure how to start this post. It's one I hoped I'd never have to write. Sadly I had to drop out of the Lehigh Valley Marathon yesterday around mile 13.5. My first DNF.

Looking back at this summer's training cycle, it hasn't necessarily been bad. The only bad thing about running this summer was that I felt incredibly slow and sluggish on nearly every run. I don't really attribute that to anything but the weather though. Summer heat and humidty + running just don't mix for me.

So, other than feeling like a sloth, running went pretty well over the past 12 weeks. I got through my long runs feeling fine. I haven't had any ITBS problems that plagued me over the winter and early spring. In fact I made it all the way into my taper until I started feeling some discomfort in my right hamstring. It started acting up badly on Labor Day weekend, a week out from the race. I first noticed the cramping after sitting on the couch all weekend and then again at my desk the next week. By Tuesday evening I was in pain just walking around and bending over to touch my toes. I began to get worried, but it wasn't really affecting my running, so I was still on board to run the race.

Wednesday night before the race I got a really awesome sports massage. The masseuse sat down with me for a full 10 minutes asking lots of questions about what was hurting. He spent a majority of the time on my right leg and by the next afternoon it felt like a lot of the kinks had been worked out. On Saturday morning I did a short shake out run for the race on Sunday. I noticed a little cramping after the 3 miles and once again began to worry if I would be able to run the race. After my shake out run, I drove two hours round trip to the expo to pick up my packet. Keeping my right foot on the peddle for that long was causing intense cramping in my hamstring and butt. I had to take 5 minutes to stretch out before I got back in the car after getting my packet. I spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and stretching the crap out of my legs.



Pre-marathon dinner: Red Snapper, brown rice noodles, and baby Brussels Sprouts that I got way too excited about when I found them

When I woke up at 4:30 am on Sunday things felt pretty good, but I couldn't help feeling like I was not going to cross that finish line. We drove out to the start line, about an hour a way, and I was already in a pissy mood. It was 90% humidity, which is really less than ideal marathoning weather. On top of that, I started regretting signing up for a race that I knew was going to take place mostly on a toe path along the river. Don't get me wrong, I love a good scenic race, but I've been doing almost all of my running lately on the toe path in Philly. The combination of the lack of crowd support and the swampy weather was making me none too happy, but I had already decided earlier that week to just use the race as a training run and not stress myself out about running fast. An opportunity to practice pacing after the disaster in May.

Don't let this smile fool you. Fake energy.

As soon as the race started and I began running I felt off. I wasn't in pain, but I could already tell my legs, breathe, and mind were not in sync. Some days you get going and you just feel awesome. Other days you just know you're not with it.

Sure enough around mile 2 or 3 I began to feel some discomfort in my right hamstring. It wasn't painful discomfort though. I tried to get my mind in the game, but I must have thought about quitting at least five times for every mile. Rarely do I deal with so much personal negative energy when I'm running and here I was wearing my don't-talk-to-me bitch face while everyone was pumped up and smiling around me.

As the miles ticked by I made myself stop thinking about a possible injury DNF. "If I think its getting worse, I will stop," I told myself. Instead of  thinking about my leg, I focused on how bored I was. Bike path, toe path, more bike path, more toe path and over and over and over. I was basically just running angry the whole time.

Around mile 10.5 I noticed my leg acting up a little more. By mile 11 I realized that I was not going to finish the race without really messing my body up. The cramping was into my butt by then and both knees were hurting. I finally made the decision to DNF at the halfway point and amazingly, after spending five days leading up the race wondering if I would make it and spending the previous 11 miles hating everything about the race while also fearing I would have to drop, once I finally made the decision I only felt one thing - relief. All the back and forth in my head stopped and it just got quiet. Dropping from a race was a weird experience. I ran through the halfway point and then just pulled over to the side and stopped running. Just like that it was over. I found race official and eventually got a ride to the finish line to meet Mike.

Even though I was absolutely sure I had made the right decision, I still cried like a baby because I felt like a failure. Part of me wonders if I would have kept running if I wasn't injured. I was already having such a bad time that the thought of running another 13 miles on the toe path seemed even worse than trying to run through an injury. This is my third big race in a row that I've gotten injured during or right afterwards and I'm beginning to feel cursed.

The good news about all of this is that at least I finally have enough self-discipline to know when to stop. There are several other races I am excited about running this fall and finishing a race I wasn't even enjoying would not have been worth it.

The Time 20 Miles Kicked My Ass

As karma would have it, days after I posted about how running 50 slow miles every week didn't feel like real work, I got kicked in the ass by my 20-miler this Sunday.

The first half of the run went well enough. It was actually a little bit chilly when I left the house at 6am. I was, admittedly, a little discouraged when I looked at my watch the first three miles only to realize I was running an 11 something pace (really?!). Otherwise, though, it was pretty enjoyable.

I always struggle to come up with long run routes since I'm pretty sure I've run every runable route in the city of Philadelphia. For this 20-miler I decided to run all the way up the Schuylkill bike path to Valley Forge National Park. It's 15 miles from my house to the park and then you can do a 5-ish mile loop around the battlefield. I really struggled with this run from about mile 10 and on. The bike path I was on started to get really boring and monotonous. Not to mention the latter half of that path is not shaded very well and the sun was started to heat things up!

I was siked by the time I got to Valley Forge because I needed a change of scenery.

 The park is really beautiful, but I forgot about the hills!

Normally I would not consider them bad. They are mostly short rollers. After 15 tough, boring miles, however, my legs were toast. By the time I finished, t was so happy to see Mike, who was kind enough to pick me up so I didn't have to run the 15 miles home. He brought my a gatorade and a bagel and both tasted like heaven.

So yeah, it was a tough run and I was reminded of it the rest of the day. Normally I can recover pretty quickly, but for some reason I spent the rest of the day feeling like a zombie. I could barely shuffle around the house and was having trouble putting together coherent sentences. While I was wasting away on the couch in the afternoon, Mike introduced me to an amazing new show (based on a web series), called Drunk History. Watching it fulfills two basic requirements: learning something and laughing your ass off. I think they should make another show where they film people who've just run marathons and ultra marathons teaching history. I can guarantee they will sound just as ridiculous. I would have been a prime candidate after Sunday's long run.

By 8 pm I was comatose and slept the deepest sleep I have ever slept. Today I planned a light 4 mile shake out run on the treadmill. Some time ago I learned the best way to loosen up sore legs was to actually get moving. Mile one felt rough, but after that point I had a great run. Four miles quickly turned into five because I couldn't stop listening to 'N Sync. I didn't watch the VMAs, but I have seen the 5,000 "OMG 'N Sync might really reunite" articles on Buzzfeed last week and I just had to add them to my playlist.



I missed you guys

So that was my weekend - got my ass handed to me, lived to tell about it.

Were you an 'N Sync fan or BSB? I was 'N Sync and my sister was BSB, so we basically had the biggest poster rival ever in our bedrooms.


How to Run 50 Miles Per Week & Still Feel Like The Laziest Person Alive

Running, like anything you've been doing habitually, becomes just that - a habit. Waking up an hour before you really need to so you can get those 6 miles in isn't a big deal. Packing your running shoes for a weekend trip doesn't phase you at all. Buying fuel for your long run doesn't seem any stranger than grocery shopping. Whether you are training for a race or just simply running to run, the point is, after awhile running on a routine basis just becomes second nature.

Forming a running habit is great, don't get me wrong, but it has its drawbacks. It's very easy to get stuck in an effortless pattern. For example, I've been running 50 or so miles a week the past few weeks as I gear up for the fall marathon season. 50 miles kind of feels like my base and comfort zone. The problem, lately, is that I'm doing all of this running and I still feel like a lazy piece of crap. I don't necessarily think its the distance I'm doing, so much as the speed with which I'm doing it. I'm running, but it doesn't feel like I'm actually trying. I've hit a plateau and I'm having trouble finding the motivation to make running hard again.

Last weekend I had two of the best 10 mile runs I've ever had while visiting my Mom in DC. I didn't have any goals for these runs. They were simply guilty pleasures. That said, I was extremely surprised (though I really shouldn't have been), to find out that I ran both runs averaging over 10 minutes miles. Not exactly on my way to a sub 3:45 marathon here, folks. I wasn't exactly mad that I ran so slow, since I didn't have any intention to do otherwise, but it does explain why I felt like I barely got a workout. Obviously I got a workout. But seriously, I barely broke a sweat out there over 10 miles.

This has been a very interesting training cycle. In a little over two weeks I will be running a marathon, the earliest fall marathon I've ever done. I have felt ZERO motivation to do any speed work save a few occasions and I'm honestly worried that the temperatures won't be cooled by race day enough for my speed to naturally improve. I'm worried about pushing too hard and having another pacing disaster. I'm upset that I might let this "BQ" course go to waste.

On the flip side - I've got three other marathons this fall and lots of cooler, speedier weather along the way. And I should probably jsut chill out.


 

Fall Marathon Season: 5 Weeks Out

Last week was a cut back week. I was shooting for about 40 miles, however I spent Saturday (my rest day) visiting my sister in NYC and we ended up walking 9+ miles. So, instead of setting out for a long run Sunday morning, I slept in and sat on the couch all day watching Breaking Bad on Netflix.

That is the beauty of having no specific training plan, my friends. You can play it all by ear. I was especially willing to take an extra rest day since I am starting the last three weeks of marathon training today. That means the next three weekends I will be putting away several 18-20 milers plus peaking my weekly mileage. If all goes well, I will be begging for taper by August 26th and ready to toe the start line at Lehigh Valley two weeks later.

 

Speaking of Lehigh Valley, I can't believe my first fall race is only 5 weeks away! This summer went crazy fast and though I'm not looking forward to classes starting and work getting busier, I am so ready for a change in seasons. Bring on the light sweaters, warm color palette, and crisp morning runs!

 

I have been doing some serious thinking about what my goals for Lehigh Valley. Originally I was hoping to BQ. Then I thought about it more and decided I would be happy enough with a PR since it will likely still be pretty warm out and maybe not ideal super-fast-running-weather. Now I am even questioning a PR because, you see, I haven't done any speed work all summer. Aside from my time in Berlin, all of my runs have been slow and lethargic. Even though the weather has cooled a little bit, its still too hot out for midday speed work on the treadmill (the only time I can get to the treadmill) and I definitely don't have enough energy to hit the track before work. Luckily, I have plenty of other marathons this fall to try and PR in, Philly being the strongest contender. I probably won't have any concrete goals for Lehigh Valley until the week of, but if I don't feel fast, I won't push it. I rather have a good time, chill out, and recover quickly for the rest of the season. Either way, I am siked for racing season to begin! Come on, fall!

Berlin: What to Do & What to Eat

Every summer since we have been together, Mike and I make a point to get away for a week, usually traveling to Central America or the Caribbean. This year I really wanted to go to Europe. It had been a few years since I'd been transatlantic and was dying to get back, even if that meant leaving my relaxing beach week behind.

We ended up settling on Berlin for a few reasons. For one, I had always wanted to go there since I did my study abroad in Rome. My roommates went for a weekend and said they had a blast. Secondly, Berlin is billed as being pretty cheap for a major European capital. Now having returned, I can vouch for that. We spent less money than we did on our honeymoon in Costa Rica and I still have euros left over!

Running aside, there is plenty to do in Berlin and we easily filled 8 days with activities. I won't torture you with the 500+ photos that I took. Instead, here is a sampling:

Complimentary breakfast every morning at the hotel usually included green tea, fruit salad, yogurt with muesli (there's so much muesli in Europe!) and toast or a roll with jam

We walked 3-6 miles every day cruising the sites and just enjoying the city:

Cool sculpture on Kurfurstendamm Strasse

Potsdamer Platz

The Bode Museum. We saw 15+ museums and memorial sites

Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam

At the Reichstag on a gloomy day

Berlin Wall Memorial

At the Berlin Zoo

On our last day, when we felt comfortable with the roads, we rented biked and cruised around for 6 hours

I've never seen so many cyclists in any city. All ages. Everywhere. 

Food-wise, I can't recommend Berlin enough. Surprisingly we ate cuisine from all over the world except for traditional German fare. The city is extremely diverse and international. You can find everything from Chinese to Italian to Vietnamese to Ethiopian.

Bruschetta for one? Yes please! From one of the many amazing food trucks at the Sunday flea market, Flohmarkt am Mauerpark

From another flea market cart - perfectly ripe watermelon spears in a cup

So many wonderfully delicious quick-stop cafes for pizza and panini

Many scrumptious salads were eaten:

But don't worry. I ate lots of dessert too!

And you better believe I raided the grocery store our last night to smuggle these treats home. I won't tell you how long it took me to go through them

Lastly, this is Germany, so of course there was beer:

They were all awesome and all as cheap as a bottle of sparkling water 

And wine. We can't forget about cheap, delicious, European wine

We now return you to your regularly scheduled running programming. 

49 Miles in Berlin

Forgive the absence. Mike and I just returned from a wonderful 8 days in Berlin. I will save the trip details for a later post. Right now I just want to talk about the running!

I ran six days in Berlin and covered 49 miles total. 35 of those were outside. The rest were on the ol' mill in the hotel. We spent the first day sleeping in as late as we wanted since we had been up 27 hours from traveling. On day two, however, we were ready to rock and roll! I had two long runs planned for each weekend, both 13 miles.

Since we had barely been around the city at that point I tried to map the simplest route possible. It ended up being very easy to follow and we saw a lot of great sites along the way! I think running is the best way possible to see a new place.

We left around 7 am so the streets were nice and quiet. I should also mention that the summer temps in Berlin are 55/75 with no observable humidity. Yeah, pretty much heaven. That's how summer should be, in my opinion.

The Tiergarten aka the Central Park of Berlin

Mike at the Victory Column

Approaching Museumsinsel

At the Brandenburger Tor

Along the Spree River

On our way back through Potsdamer Platz I found the wall line

I was really good about remembering to bring the long run basics with me - handheld water bottle, compression socks, body glide. I did, however, forget about fuel. I don't use gels and instead look for licorice, fig newtons, etc. I actually brought a bag of swedish fish with me specifically for the long run, but got too hungry on the plane and all of a sudden WOOPS! they were gone. Rather than test new food in a new place, we decided to forego the fuel. If we were running any longer it would have been really tough at the end, but 13.5 miles on a banana and piece of baguette for breakfast ended up working out okay. I only started getting ravenous during the last mile.

It's amazing what a weather change will do for your pace. I felt totally relaxed and casual, using minimal effort, and we ended up running both long runs in the low 9's. Crazy considering a 10 minute pace felt like a death the week before on the east coast.

Other than taking the scenery and enjoying the weather, the runs were pretty uneventful. I did fall flat on my face at mile 12 of our first long run. Too busy looking at pretty dresses in the store window. Thankfully I was unscathed except for an annoying bruise on my right hip bone and some dirty hands and knees.

I think the strangest thing about running in Berlin was just not seeing that many other runners. Considering the city hosts one of the world's best marathons every fall, I would have thought Berlin to be a runner's haven. Don't get me wrong, we did see some, especially on our second long run when we headed into the Tiergarten more and ditched the tourist hot spots. However I could probably count them on two hands. Strange indeed.

In my next post I will talk about the most important part of any vacation - the FOOD!

Exhaustion and Rest Days

After a bit of a set back after the River Towns Marathon, I am very happy to be running pretty much back to normal. Normal being my usual 5 days per week of Tue-Wed-Thurs-Sat-Sun. I am also quite excited to be biking to work again. Our ride is about 16 miles round trip on a fairly flat path (except for the monster 0.2 mile hill to my front door). Over the winter I rarely biked. I just couldn't take the cold. And then it was cold until like April 30th so I wasn't doing much before then. And then I was in marathon recovery and then ITBS recovery and so it was only last week that I finally biked to and from work all five days.

Even though last summer I was managing 50 mpw running and the 75 mpw biking to and from work, my body definitely needs to adjust to get to that point. I realized yesterday that I've either biked, run, or more often done both every day the last 9 days. This explains why I am absolutely exhausted. I did practically nothing all weekend and I still barely dragged myself out of bed this morning. I know some of this is not just exercise related, but also leftover from the end of my summer class last week. Up until last Thursday evening, I had been in class 12 straight months. I am mentally and physically exhausted!

 I wish someone would carry me around when I got too sleepy to walk

Finally this morning I convinced myself to take the bus instead of biking and take a real rest day. It's easy for me to want to go-go-go all of the time, but without rest days you end up overtrained and overtired. Nine days is far too long to wait and in fact my paces were alraedy suffering late last week, which should have been a sign to take a day off. In the future I am going to keep Monday a true rest day, even if that means taking the stinky, slow bus.

Looking Ahead: Lehigh Valley Marathon

Even though summer doesn't start until tomorrow, as usual, I am already thinking about the fall. Or actually, I have been thinking about the fall since about February. You kind of have to if you run races. The whole training thing, ya know.

Anyway, I am stunned to think that there is a mere 12 weeks between now and my first fall marathon, the Lehigh Valley Marathon on September 8th. In some ways, 12 weeks seems like a really long time. I mean, summer will be over by then and it has barely started! Then again, looking at my long run calendar, it seems like barely enough time to get things done.

I'm usually not one for fully drawn out training plans. I like to take each week as it comes. With only 12 weeks until race day, however, I figured setting up a long run schedule was probably a good idea to make sure I hit certain numbers. Since I had to back off the last month or so I am starting with just 10 miles this weekend and building from there. It's a pretty standard 3-week build/1-week cut back and repeat.

Hopefully all will go smoothly, I won't die in the summer humidity, and I will make it to the start line on September 8th. In all honestly, this is a race I want to PR. Not only did it have the 4th highest number of BQ-ers in 2012, but its average finish time that year was 4:02! So yeah, I'd like to race this one. A BQ would be great, but in lieu of chopping 11 whole minutes off my current PR, I'd be just as fine with any sort of PR. Baby steps, people.

This all depends, of course, on the summer weather. There's nothing like 90 degrees and 90% humidity to turn your 8 minute miles into 10 minutes miles.

And then you look like this after every run all summer

P.S. Lehigh Valley still has spots if anyone is still looking for an early fall marathon. Net downhill! Come on people!

The Latest

Oops, its been awhile. The last month and a half has been a whirlwind. Weddings, summer class, vacation planning, work, work, work, etc, etc.

When we last spoke I talked a little about my leg pains post River Towns Marathon. After taking one full week for recovery immediately after the race I had a good running week. Then, the next week I started having IT Band pain in my left leg (typical left leg!). The pain didn't start until between miles 4-6 and everytime it started I stopped running shortly thereafter. After 3 runs of this happening I finally cooled my jets and took five full days off. Since then I haven't had any pain. I also went back to PT and haven't been running "normal," but no pain is no pain. And hey, I can totally deal with 6 weeks of lesser running when I've spent 6-7 weeks with no running with my last two injuries. I caught this one in time and nipped it in the bud.

After spending about 3 weeks on the treadmill I went outside this Saturday for 8 miles. Man, were they tough! The first few miles felt like the worst, but by the end I think my body had re-acclimated to road running. The good thing is that since I never really stopped running, I haven't lost much endurance. That's nice, because I have a marathon in 12 weeks and no time to waste!

Since I've been such a bad blogger I may as well catch you guys up with some pics of the last 5 weeks.

I actually put on real people clothes for a few big events:



My sister's college graduation!

 

For a wedding

More wedding

Another wedding. PS. Don't wear black when its 90 degrees and an outdoor cocktail hour

I ate some yummy food:

Bean sprouts belong on everything



 

I went running in NYC:

 

I like to call this one "the first humid day of the summer when you realize how much things will suck until October"

 

All in all, things have been good here in Philadelphia.